9 books like City Girl

By Patricia Scanlan,

Here are 9 books that City Girl fans have personally recommended if you like City Girl. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Hello Beautiful

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

Why am I passionate about this?

When my children were 1, 3, and 5, my husband and I adopted two teenage boys. Suddenly, I was a mom to five, trying to keep my head above water. I turned to other women for advice, friendship, and compassion. While bonding over our chaotic lives, I found stories. My friends offered new perspectives on my world. I learned that every woman is living life on her own terms, and no two tales are the same. This is the magic of listening to another woman. I'm passionate about telling these stories so we can all see the world from a unique perspective and look at our situations with new understanding.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline love this book?

I loved the similarities between this book and the book Little Women. The layers of the relationships between the four sisters attributed to an unexpected family drama. There were times I wanted to crawl inside the pages and give the girls a good “talkin’ to” as some of the choices they made were indeed cringe-worthy.

But this is the mark of a truly talented writer, evoking such emotion in the reader that you think about the book well after finishing the final pages. 

By Ann Napolitano,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Hello Beautiful as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?

“Hello Beautiful is exactly that: beautiful, perceptive, wistful. It’s a story of family and friendship, of how the people we are bound to can also set us free. I loved it.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman…


Book cover of The Me List

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

Why am I passionate about this?

When my children were 1, 3, and 5, my husband and I adopted two teenage boys. Suddenly, I was a mom to five, trying to keep my head above water. I turned to other women for advice, friendship, and compassion. While bonding over our chaotic lives, I found stories. My friends offered new perspectives on my world. I learned that every woman is living life on her own terms, and no two tales are the same. This is the magic of listening to another woman. I'm passionate about telling these stories so we can all see the world from a unique perspective and look at our situations with new understanding.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline love this book?

This book had one basic message, and it came down to this: Take time to put yourself first because you matter too. I love this message so much because it took me years (and I’m still working on it) to learn the importance of self-care.

Challenging relationships within my own family structure have taken a toll over the years. However, reading this book reminded me that I can take control of my own happiness and that it is not selfish to make a “Me List” and make myself happy, too. 

By Julee Balko,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Me List as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Balko's writing is pure magic and it's a must-read for today's divided world." –J.D. Greyson, founder of Move Me Poetry

Ziplining despite being scared of heights. Learning yoga when you're afraid of downward anything. Facing your strained relationship with your mother.

When Olivia writes a ME List, she picks 10 things to get her out of her suburban mom funk. But what she really needs is to figure out how to deal with her next-door neighbor, nemesis, and new boss-Patricia. Patricia is the top realtor in their town and has the perfect life. But when Olivia agrees to be Patricia's…


Book cover of Recipe for a Charmed Life

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

Why am I passionate about this?

When my children were 1, 3, and 5, my husband and I adopted two teenage boys. Suddenly, I was a mom to five, trying to keep my head above water. I turned to other women for advice, friendship, and compassion. While bonding over our chaotic lives, I found stories. My friends offered new perspectives on my world. I learned that every woman is living life on her own terms, and no two tales are the same. This is the magic of listening to another woman. I'm passionate about telling these stories so we can all see the world from a unique perspective and look at our situations with new understanding.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline love this book?

I love this book for a few reasons. 1.) I love a book where the location becomes a character in and of itself. This book takes place in the San Yuan Islands of Washington State, a location that is near and dear to my heart as I grew up in the area. I spent most of my childhood roaming the shores and popping into the little boutique shops dotting the islands.

The vivid descriptions of the landscape brought me back to those days. 2.) I loved the way this story focuses on a mother/daughter relationship that isn’t the typical “happy family” dynamic. A sprinkle of romance and a touch of culinary had me turning the pages until the very end. 

By Rachel Linden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Recipe for a Charmed Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“Heartfelt, heartwarming, joyful, and uplifting. You can't go wrong with a Rachel Linden book.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

After a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.

American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens,…


Book cover of Blush

Jacquline Kang Author Of The Club

From my list on the pleasures and perils of family ties.

Why am I passionate about this?

When my children were 1, 3, and 5, my husband and I adopted two teenage boys. Suddenly, I was a mom to five, trying to keep my head above water. I turned to other women for advice, friendship, and compassion. While bonding over our chaotic lives, I found stories. My friends offered new perspectives on my world. I learned that every woman is living life on her own terms, and no two tales are the same. This is the magic of listening to another woman. I'm passionate about telling these stories so we can all see the world from a unique perspective and look at our situations with new understanding.

Jacquline's book list on the pleasures and perils of family ties

Jacquline Kang Why did Jacquline love this book?

Here is another book where the setting acts as a main character in the novel. I gobbled up the references to wine, cheese, and the Napa Valley as though I was sitting on the sun-soaked porch with the characters. But the backdrop of the Napa Valley, as stunning as it is, pales in comparison to the lessons three generations of women learn from each other as the story unfolds.

This story made me want to understand women's roles as heads of families and how those roles are changing from generation to generation.

By Jamie Brenner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blush as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From acclaimed author Jamie Brenner comes a stunning new novel about three generations of women who discover that the scandalous books of their past may just be the key to saving their family's future.

For decades, the Hollander Estates winery has been the premier destination for lavish parties and romantic day trips on the North Fork of Long Island. But behind the lush vineyards and majestic estate house, the Hollander family fortunes have suffered and the threat of a sale brings old wounds to the surface. For matriarch Vivian, she fears that this summer season could be their last—and that…


Book cover of The Tain: From the Irish Epic Tain Bo Cuailnge

Luke Eastwood Author Of Kerry Folk Tales

From my list on Celtic Mythology and Folkore.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been a student of Druidry since the mid-1990s and I have also had a passion for history and mythology since I received a children’s version of “The Twelve Labours of Hercules” when I was around 7 years old. I’ve read pretty much all the major stories and texts in relation to Celtic myth and Druid lore (particularly from Ireland), sometimes in multiple versions, so I think I have a fair idea of what is useful or worth reading.

Luke's book list on Celtic Mythology and Folkore

Luke Eastwood Why did Luke love this book?

There are newer versions of this book, often described as the “Illiad/Odyssey” of Irish tradition, but this is the classic translation from 1969.

Kinsella was a poet and a Gaeilgeoir (Irish speaker) so he really understood this text due to his deep knowledge of the source language and of Irish poetic norms, plus he spent 15 years lovingly translating it into the best English facsimile possible.

This is one of (if not the most) important myths of Ireland and is an essential read for those interested in Irish mythology.

By Thomas Kinsella (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Tain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Tain Bo Cuailnge, centre-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's greatest epic. It tells the story of a great cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cuailnge. The hero of the tale is Cuchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who resists the invaders single-handed while Ulster's warriors lie sick.

Thomas Kinsella presents a complete and living version of the story. His translation is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts, with elements…


Book cover of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne

James Lawless Author Of Letters to Jude

From my list on understanding experimental and literary fiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a novelist, poet, and short story writer born in Dublin, Ireland. I have always been interested in literature particularly books which I deem as works of art and which throw light on the human condition, something which I try to do in my own work. I have broadcast my poetry and prose on radio and write book reviews for national newspapers. I divide my time now between Kildare and my little mountain abode in West Cork. 

James' book list on understanding experimental and literary fiction

James Lawless Why did James love this book?

I was so moved when I read The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne that it inspired me to write my novel with my protagonist Laurence J Benbo as a male equivalent of Judith Hearne, an innocent exploited by an uncaring world. The quotidian details of Judith’s life are delineated brilliantly by Moore in all her wretchedness reminiscent of some of the characters in Joyce’s Dubliners which Moore would have read and which possibly influenced him. The dark surroundings of Judith’s life lead her into a fantasy world aided by her one necessary weakness—alcohol. But, as Moore points out, it doesn’t have to end tragically. There is a glimmer of hope with life going on, but nothing as before.

By Brian Moore,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of The Guardian’s “1,000 Books to Read Before You Die”

This underrated classic of contemporary Irish literature tells the “utterly transfixing” story of a lonely, poverty-stricken spinster in 1950s Belfast (The Boston Globe)

Judith Hearne is an unmarried woman of a certain age who has come down in society. She has few skills and is full of the prejudices and pieties of her genteel Belfast upbringing. But Judith has a secret life. And she is just one heartbreak away from revealing it to the world.

Hailed by Graham Greene, Thomas Flanagan, and Harper Lee alike, The Lonely Passion of…


Book cover of The Trap

Amanda Cassidy Author Of The Returned

From my list on nightmare thrillers that unfold in dreamy Irish settings.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a bright bubbly person with a dark, sinister imagination. As an Irish journalist turned fiction writer, the thrillers I write reflect some of the challenging crime scenes I’ve reported from. While the whodunnit element in crime-writing is extremely important, equally, I prefer to have my readers fascinated with the whydoneit. I love writing about dark pasts, buried secrets, simmering resentments, and how they shape my characters in such a way that creates delicious unease and urgency. I like to use settings like tiny Irish villages to enhance the often insular nature of locals protecting their own. The picturesque settings in my books create mood and tension and which include the landscape as character. 

Amanda's book list on nightmare thrillers that unfold in dreamy Irish settings

Amanda Cassidy Why did Amanda love this book?

Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger.

It’s the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well – but what other choice does she have? As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief – one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he’s a monster.

But a monster is exactly what she's looking for. When the driver drops her safely home Lucy’s heart sinks. She will have to try again tomorrow night. She’s made herself the bait, in her bid to find the man who took her sister.

Set in and around Dublin and the Dublin mountains, this gripping read from the author of The Nothing Man and 56 Days will keep you guessing until the very end. But…

By Catherine Ryan Howard,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Trap as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Stranded on a dark road in the middle of the night, a young woman accepts a lift from a passing stranger. It's the nightmare scenario that every girl is warned about, and she knows the dangers all too well - but what other choice does she have?

As they drive, she alternates between fear and relief - one moment thinking he is just a good man doing a good thing, the next convinced he's a monster. But when he delivers her safely to her destination, she realizes her fears were unfounded.

And her heart sinks. Because a monster is what…


Book cover of To the Island

Catherine Ann Cullen Author Of The Song of Brigid’s Cloak

From my list on children’s stories with a song connection.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a poet, children’s writer, and songwriter from Drogheda, Ireland. Ballads were always part of my family life. My favourite uncle, Gerry Cullen, is a song collector and singer who was central to the revival of folk singing in Drogheda. It was only when I embarked on a Creative Writing PhD in 2015 that I fully recognised the influence of ballads on my work. This has brought me deeper into ballad studies and I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship at University College Dublin to reclaim lost street poets and tenement balladeers of 19th-century Ireland. For me, the ballad is a peerless narrative form: compact, rhyming, rhythmic, and memorable.  

Catherine's book list on children’s stories with a song connection

Catherine Ann Cullen Why did Catherine love this book?

Patricia Forde is one of the stars of Irish writing, and this magical book was always meant to inspire a song. It’s the story of Fia, who longs to visit the mythical island of Hy Brasil, and finally reaches it by walking across a moonbeam. Her adventures with creatures, real and legendary, are realised in glowing illustrations by Nicola Bernardelli. The book was commissioned by Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture with versions in Irish and in English. Local composer Anna Mullarkey wrote a song to accompany it. Story, song, and pictures combine to show how a child’s imagination becomes part of the enchantment of a special place: “Fia felt the pull of magic in the air / and the pull of her own strong heart.”

By Patricia Forde, Nicola Bernardelli (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked To the Island as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What is this book about?

Fia looks out her window and across the bay. She longs to see the mysterious island, which appears and disappears in the water.

One night a moonbeam reaches across the bay and leads her to the island. She walks with magical creatures, dances with a host of girls and boys, and visits the bottom of the sea and the stars in space.

Lyrical text with gorgeous colour illustrations, from a multi-award-winning Irish author. Based on the mythical Irish island of Hy Brasil, which lies off the west coast of Galway.


Book cover of Rose

DeMisty D. Bellinger Author Of Peculiar Heritage

From my list on poetry inspired by history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I care about social justice, equality, and history, as well as beauty and art. As an African-American woman who was raised working class and who understands how history informs the present, I have fallen in love with the depiction of history in poetry and prose. Not all of my writing has something to do with race or gender or class, but all of my writing is about justice in some way. I want to get to the good of people.

DeMisty's book list on poetry inspired by history

DeMisty D. Bellinger Why did DeMisty love this book?

These poems—most of every poem that Lee writes, really—do more than paint a picture. These poems appeal to every one of your senses. They are rich in description and you want to savor each one, sit with it, and let the poem envelop you. 

I heard or read somewhere that Li-Young Lee is a slow writer, not producing a lot of work but always producing good work. I don’t know if this is true, and except for my greed of wanting to consume more of his words asap, I don’t mind that his poems are slower coming. I like to spend time with them.

I share Rose because Lee teaches me—and my students—that writers depend too much on visual imagery and fear spreading out into the other senses.

By Li-Young Lee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rose as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Table of Contents

I.
Epistle
The Gift
Persimmons
The Weight Of Sweetness
From Blossoms
Dreaming Of Hair
Early In The Morning
Water
Falling: The Code
Nocturne
My Indigo
Irises
Eating Alone

II.
Always A Rose

III.
Eating Together
I Ask My Mother To Sing
Ash, Snow, Or Moonlight
The Life
The Weepers
Braiding
Rain Diary
My Sleeping Loved Ones
Mnemonic
Between Seasons
Visions And Interpretations


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Ireland, the Irish, and Irish mythology?

Ireland 303 books
The Irish 64 books
Irish Mythology 13 books